


Control and Order

by ShadowoftheLamp



Category: Captain Underpants Series - Dav Pilkey
Genre: Gen, movie universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-08
Updated: 2017-07-18
Packaged: 2018-11-10 21:33:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11135103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowoftheLamp/pseuds/ShadowoftheLamp
Summary: Something is wrong, and Mr. Krupp is going to find out what.A 'reveal' fic.





	1. Unexpected Flight

**Author's Note:**

> So, never thought I'd be writing for this fandom, but the movie was fun, I dug up all of the books I had and THEY'RE all fun, so hey, diving right in.
> 
> I have the next chapter mostly if not all done, I'm just considering how open-ended to leave it.
> 
> I'll post this on tumblr when it's not 12am

 Benjamin Krupp liked order. 

Order in his routine, order in his school, order in his life. 

He ran his school with not just an iron fist, but an iron will- children were there to learn, not have fun. Learning wasn't fun, it was boring and tedious. That wasn't just his motto, he had it on a poster under a picture of a ball and chain.

However, that carefully curated order was thrown out the window and blown to smithereens by George Beard and Harold Hutchins. They were pranksters, hooligans, brats, and every other insulting adjective that he could throw at a pair of fourth graders. 

 Recently, his life had gone from order with hiccups to hiccups with a vague semblance of order. He'd been losing not only sleep, but stretches of time, and (more disturbingly) his clothes. 

And it all centered around those two boys. 

Whenever he snapped back from lost time, they were there- often laughing or screaming at him! The indignity!

Even after separating them in class, they still sat together at lunch, and he couldn't ban them from being together after school- their parents surely wouldn't listen to reason, seeing as they'd allowed them to grow into the little monsters they were without any parental discipline. 

But the time gaps remained, and often he woke up covered in bruises and cuts, with a curtain around his neck and most of his clothes missing. This wasn't order, but he'd be darned if he'd go to George and Harold to figure out what was happening. 

That is, until he started flying. 

He'd been trying to reach the book on the top of his bookshelf at work, and had managed to grab it.

That wasn't the unusual part. 

The _unusual_ part was that he'd lifted off the ground by about half a foot to do it. 

"Yah!" His arms pinwheeled and the book spun out of his hands, knocking the plant off of the file cabinet. "What the he-"

A knock came on the door. "Sir, George and Harold are here."

His body had not yet decided that it was going to obey the laws of psychics yet and remained stubbornly airborne when the door creaked open. 

"The copier was like that when we got-" Harold automatically rattled off an excuse, before catching sight of the principal who was definitely not behind the desk and even more definitely not on the ground. "Oh boy."

There was a snap and he was sitting at his desk again, toupee askew, and he wondered how long he'd dozed off.

 


	2. An Explanation

George and Harold were used to being called to the principal's office. Even after everything, the Mr. Krupp still hated them and their pranks, and the fact that their honorary plaques outside his office door hadn't budged showed it.

But today, neither had done anything of note. Harold had carved Sad Worm into his desk with a pen and George had managed to derail the teacher by asking her about her visit to the dentist, but that wasn't principal-worthy.

However, by the depth of the furrowed brow and the twitching mouth, Mr. Krupp was _seething_.

"Do you two know why you're here?"

"Honestly, no." George said, quirking up one eyebrow.

"Did you find something we did, like, months ago? Because I'm drawing a blank." Harold added.

"This! This is what you're here for!" The principal shot up surprisingly fast for someone his size and slammed both hands on the desk, making it shake.

"Uh...." Both boys looked at each other.

"I don't get it." Harold squinted. "Is it really small or something?"

"What- no!" Flushing, Mr. Krupp dug into his pocket and then pulled out a picture, banging it down on the desk and nearly tearing it in half. As one, the boys leaned forward, and gulped.

It was one of the instant pictures they'd taken with Captain Underpants.

"Heh, that's weird..." Harold said, smiling as sweat dripped down his neck.

"Yeah, photoshop is crazy-" George started, but Mr. Krupp snatched the picture back.

"Both of you are going to tell me exactly what's going on or I will personally have you suspended."

"It's a really long story." George normally wasn't intimidated by Mr. Krupp. He'd been in his office so much it was practically his second bedroom. But there was something different this time, something that had his tie seem a little too tight around his neck.

"Long and unbelievable." Harold added.

"So first you have to promise you'll listen."

"And not freak out." They got into a rhythm, automatically jumping in and adding to each other's sentences.

"Or kill us." At that, George made a neck-slicing motion.

"Yeah, no killing us for the rest of our lives or anything." Harold looked at George. "Do we tell him or...?"

"He's gonna find out eventually."

"If he takes it badly..."

To that, George held up his left hand as if he was about to snap. "Then we switch and figure out a plan." Both jumped as a fist slammed on the desk hard enough to shake the whole room.

"I'm still right here! You two have one minute. Start talking."

They wasted a few more seconds staring at each other, before nodding in unison. George opened his mouth.

"Well, it started when you said you were going to move us to separate classes..."

"I remember. How does that explain why I'm half-naked and smiling next to you two hooligans?"

"Well, we... hypnotized you." Harold tried to smile but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Yeah, and we did try to fix it!" George said hurriedly. "I mean, you were running around and trying to fight crime but obviously that wasn't going to go well."

"Are you trying to tell me you hypnotized me, and it worked?"

"Way better than I thought it would." A genuine smirk crossed George's face. "I kinda wish I hadn't broken the ring, maybe we could get Ms. Ribble to-"

"Stay on topic!"

"That's it." Harold ran a hand through his messy hair, before putting on the most innocent grin he could muster. "We hypnotized you and made you think you were Captain Underpants."

"So, can either of you explain why I can fly now?"

"Radioactive leftovers." George shuddered. "Better you than us."

"How long has this been going on?"

"About two months."

"Does anyone else know?"

"Us and Ms. Edith, but that's it."

Mr. Krupp sucked in a deep breath. "I am being far too kind right now, but here is my proposition. You two stop this from happening, and I won't suspend you both."

Maybe it was just the light, but now that the angry flush was gone, they could see bags under the principal's eyes.

"We tried- I broke the hypnosis ring, but sometimes you still turn into Captain Underpants." George adjusted his tie.

"So get a new one."

"There's supervillains out there now, we can't!" Harold leaned forward. "Like it or not, Captain Underpants helps save the world!"

"Plus, he's really good at flirting with Ms. Edith..." George raised an eyebrow. "How do you think she asked you out?"

"That's- I-" He narrowed his eyes as his cheeks reddened, before hitting his desk again. Honestly, it was a miracle it hadn't collapsed. "I don't want to turn into a half-naked overgrown child whenever- whenever- how does it happen, anyways?"

Harold opened his mouth to answer, but George stuck his hand in front of it.

"Actually, I've just realized we're in an interesting position."

Mr. Krupp wrinkled his nose, and snarled out the side of his mouth "What do you mean?"

"Captain Underpants loves us. We're his faithful sidekicks, and he'll do anything we say. So here's my counter-idea, bub: You don't suspend us, and leave us alone, and we don't tell him to do something embarrassing as you."

The flush on the principal's cheeks and forehead darkened as he sputtered. "I- you- you can't- you _wouldn't_!"

Harold caught on. "Remember the carnival? That was us."

" _Totally_ our idea."

"This is blackmail!"

"Yeah. It is." George leaned forward, but Harold leaned to whisper into his ear.

"Dude, you sure about this?"

"C'mon, man, the fart orchestra went great and he loved doing it. Imagine what else we could do."

"So my choices are either keep letting you two go fight with some cheery maniac based off one of your comics in my body, or suspend you two and have something humiliating happen."

"Pretty much, yeah." George definitely was smirking now. Mr. Krupp took a moment to simmer, before pinching the bridge of his nose.

"You'll still be getting in trouble for your pranks. Don't misunderstand, neither of you are even slightly off the hook for this."  
George and Harold lit up.

"So you'll do it?" Harold bounced in his chair, fingers curling against the edge of the abused desk.

"You're not leaving me much choice, are you?" He sucked in a deep breath. "No one else has figured it out?"

"Nope. Captain Underpants thinks he's disguised as a principal so he takes his secret identity seriously." Harold paused. "Well, as seriously as he takes anything."

"I expect a written explanation from one of you for every fight, or you'll both get detention. Understood?"

"Understood!" They chorused in unison, grinning.

"Now get out of my office."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to just end with 'it started when you said you were going to move us into seperate classes' but then I wanted to try explaining it from their pov and it was really fun so...
> 
> Thanks for the comments on the first chapter, and hope you liked this one too! Honestly, if you have ideas for CU fics I'll take em.


	3. A Meeting of Sorts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mr. Krupp leaves a note for Captain Underpants, but it doesn't go according to plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had this half-finished for a bit but decided to finally get the rest done. I've loved all the comments you guys have left, you're the best! Hope you like part 3!

The mirror looked the same as it always did. He had a round face, dark eyes, and a plain purple shirt.

Today was a Sunday. He hadn't planned anything for this weekend, except...

Sighing, Mr. Krupp scribbled down the last few words and looked over the note.

_This is ridiculous, but we have to come to an agreement over use of my body. Don't hurt it, and start wearing some decent clothes. Don't let anyone know who you are either._

Mr. Krupp smacked the sticky note up on the mirror and adjusted a video camera to be focused on his face. He had to see how different he looked- from the picture he'd found stuffed in his pocket, Captain Underpants (ugh, that still sounded dumb) had different posture. His smile, his eyes, his stance- it was all foreign.

"Here goes nothing." A slow deep breath before he lifted his hand and snapped his fingers.

__________

He woke up in George and Harold's treehouse- again- with a half-filled glass of water in his hands. He was wearing only his underwear and a curtain. Again. Harold was clutching his note.

"We probably should have talked to him..." He muttered.

"We hadn't thought of how he'd-"

"Why am I here again?" Mr. Krupp glared down at the two fourth graders.

Harold bit his lip. "Captain Underpants doesn't really know about you. He kind of freaked."

"What?"

"He showed up at my door about fifteen minutes ago." George fidgeted with his tie.

"Not that. He doesn't _know about me?_ "

"Yeah- er, no." Harold laughed nervously. "Actually, he thinks you're one of his rivals, since we... um..."

"You don't speak fondly of me." Mr. Krupp said flatly, and George nodded.

"Uh-huh. All we got out of him was that he doesn't know what's going on or who the mysterious person is."

"Oh, and that your neighborhood is depressing." Harold added.

"It keeps away solicitors." Mr. Krupp snapped. "I don't need to explain my life choices to him."

"So you want him to wear clothes? That kind of defeats the point of 'Captain Underpants.' " Harold made finger quotes. "He actually thinks they make his powers disappear."

"Can't you two explain it to him?"

"Look at it this way- if he puts on clothes, he looks like you." George pointed out.

Mr. Krupp dragged a hand down his face.

"Okay, fine. I'll write another note."

"Be nice to him, okay? He's like a kid." Harold's eyebrows were tilted up, and his lower lip was hanging open slightly.

Both of the boys had nervous looks on their faces. Mr. Krupp's first thought was of the dozens of parents that came into his office when their bratty kids were in trouble.

He never thought he'd be comparing those two to _adults_.

"Give me a piece of paper and a pencil."

The supplies were shoved into his hands and he settled down on the floor, the wood creaking under his weight as he got to work.

_My name is Mr. Krupp. You don't need to know my first name. I'm the principal of Jerome Horwitz. This was MY body first. This is ridiculous, and it's all George and Harold's fault, but we have to come to an agreement over use of my body. Don't hurt it, and don't let anyone know who you are either, and I'll let you continue being a hero._

He handed it to George, who skimmed it quickly and nodded. "That works."

Before he could say another word, George snapped.

____________

He woke up in his own house this time, but it looked different.

For one, there were bright, gaudy lanterns hanging from every conceivable surface, from a lamp to the tv antennae to a doorknob.

The other was that there was a scribbled mess of notes in barely-distinguishable handwriting littering his body. His still half-naked body, for the record.

He picked up a random one, squinting at the childish handwriting.

" _MR KRUPP, i'm surprised your the one i'm sharing with!!! i thought you were a jerkyjerk but you want to be a hero too!!!! i cheered up your house, it was dull and gross and boring_ "

There was a tiny doodle of a face with a tongue sticking out. The rest of the notes were either receipts for the lanterns (lucky they'd been at a discount and he was only out about fifteen dollars, but it was still ridiculous that idiot had managed to figure out how to buy something) or colorful but crappy colored pencil drawings of underwear and stars.

While crumpling the rest of the paper up, Mr. Krupp accidentally flipped over the note, and noticed there was more.

" _PS: if your mean to my sidekicks i'll do something. i don't know what but you won't like it!!! don't be mean to them they saved the world!!!_ "

Sighing, Mr. Krupp set the paper on the coffee table, standing up to grab a garbage can for the rest.

It didn't take very long to take down the lanterns, but after a moment of thought, he left one on the kitchen table.

Captain would probably go get something else and waste more money if he didn't.

(The fact that the bright red did make the room feel a little homier had nothing to do with his choice. Definitely.)


End file.
